Judaism In A Nutshell
March 7, 2025
Judaism In A Nutshell by The Aleph Institute
# of Pages: 123
Why did I choose to read this book?
First, this book was highly recommended to me by someone I highly trust. Secondly, I chose to read it because I wanted to learn basic principles and the meaning behind many Jewish customs and holidays.
What did I learn by reading this book?
I enjoyed Judaism In A Nutshell so much because each topic was explained in simple, short, power packed summaries. With 40 topics ranging from Jewish customs that included Mitzvah, Purpose, Prayer, and The Messiah to important holidays like Rosh Hashanah, Purim, Passover, Hanukkah and Shavuot.
With so many topics to choose from, I’d like to share a little what I learned on two very important topics: One is G-d and the second is The Torah.
Although it is impossible to truly describe G-d, I’ve learned G-d is the infinite creator of the universe and that G-d is intimately involved with his creation on a moment by moment basis. For example, not a leaf falls to the ground from a tree without G-d’s “hand” behind it. It is our responsibility to make all of our experiences meaningful and to learn from them.
Secondly, G-d gave us the Torah (meaning ‘lessons’ in Hebrew) so that we could connect with him. In 1313 BCE, G-d gave the Torah to the Jewish Nation on Mount Sinai. The Torah consists of 5 books: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. It was in the 19th century, the Hasidic movement popularized the study of the Torah and became an indispensable aid to understanding the deeper significance of Creation and Observance.
In summary, The Torah is a gift from G-d allowing us to grasp some of G-d’s wisdom which then allows us to form a bond between G-d and human beings.
How will this book help you upon release?
I’ve always lacked a firm Jewish foundation understanding of what it means to be Jewish. Reading Judaism in a Nutshell, has provided a much needed foundation in simple English that I could understand. I enjoy history so learning that The Torah was given to the Jewish nation by G-d in 1313 BCE is helpful and fascinating to me.
Reading this book has helped me learn what and how becoming closer to G-d means. One example of becoming closer to G-d that I have adopted is to pray. In fact, I’ve written my own prayer that I read 2x a day. The second Jewish custom I do that helps me become closer to G-d is putting on tefillin daily.
Tefillin are black leather boxes containing parchment scrolls included with biblical verses. Some of the verses inside the tefillin pertain to the Exodus from Egypt and wearing tefillin is also a way to fulfill one’s obligation to remember the Exodus daily.
In summary, learning to be a better person and a be a better Jew will help me make better choices and decisions ultimately down a righteous and legal path back to society.
